That’s how long it took me to get home last night. Ugh.
3:40pm – Get in the van and switch over to 680News radio to get the traffic. There’s a collision on the 401 and it’s slow, so I decide to take the Gardiner/QEW home.
Travelling south on the Gardiner was fine and as I made the turn to go west-bound, things slowed a little which is normal. It picked up a bit until I reached Royal York.
Traffic had slowed way down and we were crawling a long. I was still listening to the traffic reports and heard about the collision “just west of Kipling”. Thinking that I was pretty close and would pass it and just go on my way, I didn’t try to take a different route. They said that the left hand lane was open and people were still able to pass.
Bad move.
I finally get close to the Kipling bridge where Kipling goes over the QEW and a police officer goes backwards down the shoulder. He makes his way into the lanes about 10 cars behind me and closes the express lanes. Crap. This can’t be good.
While waiting in the traffic, I watch a guy jump out of his van, hop over the median and go into the Johnny-On-The-Spot that was there for the construction workers. Then his passenger did the same thing. Why not, we weren’t going anywhere quickly.
We get under the Kipling bridge and the car in front of me over-heats. The guys is throwing his hands in the air and is visibly frustrated. I managed to get in the lane beside me and I asked if he needed a phone to call anyone. He said that he didn’t have anyone to call. I called *OPP to let them know that he was stuck.
Since were were on the Gardiner, they transferred me to Toronto Police. I had forgotten that the Gardiner is under local jurisdiction. I explained where he was and what the car looked liked and they said that they’d send some help. I got a call back “Hi, this is Toronto Police. Where did you say he is?” “The express lanes of the Gardiner just west of the Kipling bridge.” “But that part of the highway is closed.” “Yes, we are the unfortunate people still stuck in the express lanes. They closed the Gardiner about 10 cars behind me.” “oh, okay, thanks” Poor dispatcher who can’t see what’s going on was a little confused.
So I chugged a long. The collectors for a while were still open which is strange. Not too far past the Kipling Bridge, the collectors and express become one, just before the ramp to the 427 north. So 8 lanes of traffic are coming together to try to go into 1 left lane to get pass the collision. What a night mare.
I had to laugh when I thought of my friend, Dawn. She would have completely lost it if she was stuck in this mess!! She hates driving in the city!!
So I was at the Kipling bridge at 5:00pm. At 5:40pm, I finally was directed passed the collision. It took 40 minutes to travel 1.2 kilometres (0.7 miles for my US friends). That’s just crazy.
I tried to see what was going on. There were many emergency service vehicles (fire trucks, ambulances, police cars) and I could see cars and stuff but not enough to figure out what happened.
This is what happened:
Chunk of westbound Gardiner closes during rush hour commute
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – 07:54 PM
By: 680News staffToronto – It was a traffic nightmare for motorists heading out of downtown during the evening rush, Wednesday.
All lanes on the westbound Gardiner Expressway at Kipling shut down at around 4:45 p.m., just before highway 427 because of a multi-vehicle crash.
At least seven vehicles – including a mobile crane – were involved in the collision.
Part of the reason for the delay in clearing this mess was that an inspector had to be called in to make sure the crane was safe to move – as there was concern about its breaking system.
No injuries were reported.
So by 6:00pm I was finally home. Luckily, Hubby had already planned something for dinner. He was BBQing on the back deck while the girls played in the backyard. A very nice thing to come home too.
I need a job closer to home.
